The Wild True Story Behind ‘Dancing for the Devil The 7M TikTok Cult’

Editor’s Notice: The next accommodates discussions of sexual and emotional abuse.

To these of a sure era, the necessity for youth to be on, or to observe, TikTok viral videos borders on obsessive. It isn’t a good assertion, nevertheless it does not essentially imply it is not true, both, as there are certainly those that attempt to succeed on social media platforms, hoping in opposition to hope that their content material catches on and launches them into superstar standing. One group, 7M Movies, labored as a administration firm that supplied the means for dancers to create and launch movies, and efficiently at that. They did the hair, make-up, schedules and bookings, and founder and CEO Robert Shinn oversaw its progress, in addition to the church he based in 1994, the Shekinah Church. However based on the newly-released Netflix sequence Dancing for the Satan: The 7M TikTok Cult, behind 7M’s shiny exterior there may be darkness, within the type of a cult. It is a true story that, most disturbingly, is correct.

The True Story of ‘Dancing for the Satan: The 7M TikTok Cult’ Begins within the Nineteen Nineties

The story of 7M Films begins with the Shekinah Church in Los Angeles, California, based within the Nineteen Nineties by Robert Shinn as a non secular group for Korean Individuals, with a small group of about 15 individuals to begin. Shinn then began to develop his horizons and opened a number of companies: two flower outlets, two mortgage corporations, two actual property corporations, and a café. In response to Melanie Lee, who options prominently within the sequence along with her sister Priscylla, these companies had been staffed by members of the Shekinah Church, who labored 12-hour shifts for $100 every week. A failed try and develop into a Hollywood govt producer had Shinn setting his sights on the potential of social media for a brand new income stream.

In 2021, he launched 7M Movies, and commenced recruiting a lot of profitable dancers from social media. The dancers he introduced in lived together in a single house, creating content material which was primarily targeted on trendy dance carried out to outdated hits, a few of which had been particularly chosen by Shinn himself. 7M supplied alternatives that may by no means have occurred for the dancers exterior its partitions, akin to commercials, appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and stay occasions, like dancing at Los Angeles Clippers video games. But the road between 7M and the Shekinah Church was blurry, at finest, with lots of the dancers a part of the congregation, seeking to achieve favor with the charismatic Shinn nonetheless they may.

Shekinah Church Denies Claims That It is a Cult

7M claims that it is a completely separate entity from the Shekinah Church, and Shinn himself filed a lawsuit in opposition to former members that claimed he runs a cult for defamation. One in all Shinn’s most distinguished guidelines for his followers was the necessity for them to “die to” themselves and to their households, a observe that, as one former 7M member explains, implies that “no matter you need or no matter you want, you need to ‘die to it,’ as a result of everytime you die to one thing, it’ll come again to life and resurrect.” Different sources declare that these in 7M are compelled to take part in Bible research in an effort to be represented by the corporate. Starting in 2006, members had been topic to web monitoring and advised to offer their passwords to these in management positions. There are additionally allegations of members being shunned in the event that they weren’t incomes sufficient cash for the church, or for transgressions starting from badmouthing the church to utilizing an excessive amount of bathroom paper.

And there is extra. Several former 7M dancers declare Shinn took benefit of their vulnerability as newcomers hoping to make it huge in LA, and as soon as they had been in, they might find yourself giving Shinn nearly all of their earnings by tithes and costs, had been anticipated to signal NDAs, and had been topic to sexual and emotional abuse by the hands of Shinn. Girls in 7M needed to adhere to look necessities, which included reducing their hair into quick, blonde bobs, and precedence was primarily based on thinness, train, weight-reduction plan, and fasting. Different corporations with ties to Shinn share comparable tales. As per The Cut, an worker of Alpha Plus Realty, Jung Hee Lee, an organization owned by Shinn and staffed by Shekinah Church members, claimed wage theft, alleging Shekinah was accountable for members’ financial institution accounts. Lee was advised that her work was accomplished within the service of God, and was given a $30 every week allowance regardless of working full-time. All of those are classic cult tactics according to the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), so if 7M is not a cult, their practices are eerily paying homage to one.

‘Dancing for the Satan: The 7M TikTok Cult’ Narrows Its Focus

Correctly, Dancing for the Satan: The 7M TikTok Cult devotes its time largely to 2 completely different pairs of sisters, Melanie and Priscylla Lee, who had been talked about earlier, and the Wilking sisters, Melanie and Miranda (now Miranda Derrick). It turns the sequence right into a extra private story versus some huge exposé on 7M and the Shekinah Church. As per the beforehand cited Individuals, Melanie and Priscylla got here to the church in its early years, and whereas their expertise was welcoming to begin, it was dwelling collectively in a single home and needing approval for no matter they did and wherever they needed to go.

Bedtime was at 10 p.m., wakeup time was 5 a.m., adopted by prayer time within the church at 6 a.m., and all actions had been reported to “mentors,” who would report back to Shinn. Later, Shinn made sexual advances in the direction of Melanie, which led to Melanie fleeing the church in 2011. Priscylla mentioned that she was positive she’d go to hell if she went, so she stayed behind. She then mentioned that Shinn started grooming and abusing her sexually, and that their sexual experiences had been “purifying” her. Lastly, satisfied that hell was higher than the place she was, Priscylla left. Apparently, Priscylla leaving the church occurred throughout manufacturing of the sequence, govt producer Jessica Acevedo says, with their reunion within the documentary the primary in over 23 years.

But it is the story of the Wilking sisters that originally introduced consideration to 7M and the Shekinah Church, and finally was the impetus for the documentary itself. The Wilkings had been already a well-liked dance pair with a TikTok channel, one which had tens of millions of followers. Then got here April 2019, and a message to Miranda from one other dancer, James “BDash” Derrick, that modified all the pieces. Derrick’s videographer, Isaiah Shinn (Robert’s son), launched the women to Shekinah Church. They returned residence to Michigan in the beginning of the 2020 pandemic earlier than returning to LA. Then, in January 2021, Miranda, who was presupposed to fly residence for her grandfather’s funeral, canceled on the final minute, claiming she wanted permission from “somebody nearer to God” to fly residence (per the Unbiased).

Melanie had already famous that her sister was changing into extra distant, however this newest act was positively out of character. Miranda then acquired married to Derrick, with the household solely studying in regards to the engagement from social media, and had been left uninvited to the marriage. That led to the February 2022 Instagram Stay look by Melanie and her dad and mom, a 40-minute plea through which they divulged their fears about 7M being a cult, and hoped to regain the misplaced contact with Miranda. That, in flip, led to the Netflix documentary.

Miranda Derrick publicly addressed the household’s allegations, denying that 7M is a cult, and any claims of abuse or restrictions on her life by the church. Shinn, 7M, and the church have all denied any wrongdoing and claims of being a cult, as one would count on. However the variety of former members who share the identical tales in Dancing for the Satan: The 7M TikTok Cult would counsel that, like different cults that claim they are not cults, the proof suggests in any other case.

Dancing for the Satan: The 7M TikTok Cult is obtainable to stream on Netflix within the U.S.

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